Yugapurushan - Movie Review

Yugapurushan, scripted and directed by the film-maker R. Sukumaran, documents with an element of fiction the life and times of the social reformer Sree Narayana Guru (1855-1928). The movie, mostly through the sermons of the Guru, depicts how he kindled a dormant people to rise up against injustice and fight for their rights. Yugapurushan is well acted and seriously mounted, but maintains a half way stand between being a biopic and a historical. As a biopic, Yugapurushan fails to leave a mark, and very rarely rises above a chronicled picturisation of the great sage’s most popular sermons.

The movie abounds with sketches of the different periods in the Guru’s career. It opens with a roaring sea in the background and the words of the Guru (Thalaivasal Vijai) echoing that no one is born impure; it is man who defiles. He is moved by the torture the downtrodden suffer at the hands of the so-called higher castes. Each incident makes him act, be it the flogging of a poor farmer tied to a yoke or the denial of basic education to poor girls. He is ever present to lead the masses.

When he comes to know that the some people are denied entry to temples, he retaliates by building and consecrating temples for them. The temples are open to all, and his dictum that all are equal is inscribed on the walls of temples and schools. The film ends with the final installation of the mirror as an idol at Kadavamkodam temple.

Thalaivasal Vijai pulls his role off with aplomb, portraying the different emotions of the Guru, especially a shocked and disturbed Guru on knowing the news of Kumaran Asan’s death and a subdued and desperate Guru following infighting within the organisation that he founded. The remarkable similarity of Thalaivasal Vijay to the Guru might seem astonishing. Mammootty as K.C. Kuttan, the ardent admirer of the Guru, and Saji, as Asan, symbolise altruism. Kalabhavan Mani as Koran gives a neat performance. Siddique and Babu Antony as Dr. Palpu and Ayyankali, respectively, show their fiery spirit.

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